


The Seventh Mrs. DeWinter

by tigriswolf



Series: dark fairy tales [37]
Category: La Barbe bleue | Bluebeard - Charles Perrault
Genre: Dark, Domestic Violence, F/M, Ghosts, Horror, Podfic, Poetry, Serial Killers, after a fashion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 19:30:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12754713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: The key, the smallest key,the golden key: in my dreams,I watch it bleed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written: September 27 - 30, 2017
> 
> For my poetry class. The assignment was to write something _uncanny_. Not sure I managed it but I do like the result.

Do not enter this room,

though it is locked

and I have all the keys on this ring,

and though this entire house

is to call me  _Mistress_  now.

He left me here to wait while he travels,

and the house in its entirety is mine.

I have the key.

Why forbid my entrance

to this one room?

 

(There are ghosts here.

They cry at night

and during the day,

they cry everywhere 

and they tell me

_Leave this place._

_Sister, run before it's too late_.)

 

The key, the smallest key,

the golden key: in my dreams,

I watch it bleed.

Blood drips, drop by drop,

and pools at my feet.

Footprints follow me,

but not where I stepped.

Footprints follow me

and I wake,

a scream caught in my throat,

and the key in my hand.

 

This one room

I am to never enter.

Why, then, give me this

key?

 

This one room

beyond my sight,

beyond my reach,

beyond the proclamation

that I am Mistress of this domain.

A single room in a castle of rooms.

What hides, lurks, waits inside?

 

 

(There are ghosts here.

They call me by name.

Too, the call me _Sister_.

They murmur as I sleep.

 _Sister_ , they plead, _sister, leave._

 _Sister, run before it’s too late_.)

 

Golden key clutched by aching fingers,

I stride down the hall to the single room

I have never seen, the single room

the master of this house ordered

I never enter or even approach.

 

The key slides easily into the lock.

 

I do not even turn the knob.

 

The door opens.

 

I step into the room.

 

I close my eyes.

 

I breathe in the stench of dried blood.

 

 _Sister_ , the ghosts sigh.

 

I pull the door shut behind me

and return to my own room,

where the servants draw me a bath.

I soak until the water cools.

 

Blood drips from the key.

My husband should arrive tomorrow;

wedded for a month and only a week

spent in each other’s company,

in learning to be man and wife.

I am not the first—

 

I counted the skulls, placed on the

walls like hunting trophies:

six of them, six women before me,

six wives ordered to never

open the door, six who disobeyed.

I walk through my domain

as the servants clean it top to bottom,

all except that one room.

The stench of dried blood follows me.

Horseshoes on cobblestone tell me

the master of the house has come home.

 

The golden key in hand,

I wait.

 _Sister_ , the ghosts sigh.

I am not the first wife.

 

 _Sisters_ , I vow, setting the key on his bed.

_My sisters, I shall be the last._

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revised slightly.

Do not

           enter this room,

though

          it is locked

and

         I have all the keys on this ring,

and 

         though this entire house

          is to call me  _Mistress_  now.

He

left

me here to

wait

while he travels,

and      the house

in its    entirety

is mine.

             I have the key.

Why forbid my entrance

                                    to this one room?

 

              (There are ghosts here.

               They cry at night

               and during the day,

               they cry everywhere 

                and they tell me

_Leave this place._

_Sister, run before it's too late_.)

 

The key,

the smallest key,

the golden key:

            in my dreams,

                       I watch it bleed.

Blood drips,

                   drop

                              by

                                       drop,

and                                          p o o l s

 at my feet.

Footprints follow me,

                   but not where I stepped.

Footprints follow me

and I

wake,

a

scream caught in my throat,

and

the key in my hand.

 

This one room

I am to never enter.

Why, then, give me this

key?

 

This one room

             beyond my sight,

             beyond my reach,

             beyond the proclamation

that

                        I

                                       am

                                                            Mistress

of this domain.

A single room in a castle of rooms.

What

         hides,

         lurks,

         waits inside?

 

                      (There are ghosts here.

                       They call me by name.

                       Too, the call me _Sister_.

                       They murmur as I sleep.

 _Sister_ , they plead, _sister, leave._

 _Sister, run before it’s too late_.)

 

Golden key clutched by aching fingers,

I

              stride down the hall to the single room

I

              have never seen, the single room

the master of this house ordered

I

              never enter or even approach.

 

The key slides easily into the lock.

 

I do not even turn the knob.

 

The door opens.

 

I step into the room.

 

I close my eyes.

 

I breathe in the stench of dried blood.

 

 _Sister_ , the ghosts sigh.

 

I pull the door shut behind me

and return to my own room,

where the servants draw me a bath.

I soak until the water cools.

 

Blood drips from the key.

My husband should arrive tomorrow;

wedded for a month and only a week

spent in each other’s company,

in learning to be man and wife.

I am not the first—

 

I

counted the

skulls,

placed on the

walls

like

hunting trophies:

                           six of them,     six women before me,

                           six wives ordered to never

open the door,           six who disobeyed.

I

walk through my domain

as the

servants clean it top to bottom,

all except that one room.

The stench of dried blood follows me.

Horseshoes on cobblestone tell me

the master of the house has come home.

 

The golden key in hand,

I wait.

 _Sister_ , the ghosts sigh.

I am not the first wife.

 

 _Sisters_ , I vow, setting the key on his bed.

_My sisters, I shall be the last._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i'm not sure this counts as podfic, but i am reciting it?

so, i made an animoto video with me reciting the poem. embed isn't working but [here](https://animoto.com/play/1jVol1wenTiDZYpFTi4emg) it is.


End file.
